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Many have lamented the seemingdecline of the US space program. While we're not expecting an immediate return to the halcyon days, the President's proposed federal budget for fiscal 2014 could see some renewed ambition. NASA's slice of the pie includes a plan that would improve detection of near-Earth asteroids, send a solar-powered robot ship (like the NASA concept above) to capture one of the space rocks and tow it back to a stable orbit near Earth, where researchers could study it up close. The agency would have humans setting foot on the asteroid by 2025, or even as soon as 2021. It's a grand goal to say the least, but we'd potentially learn more about solar propulsion and defenses against asteroid collisions.

If NASA's plans mostly involve the future, the US Air Force budget is looking into the past. It's setting aside $35 million for a long-discussed resurrection of the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite, also known as DSCOVR -- a vehicle that was scuppered in 2001 due to cost overruns, among other factors. Run by NOAA once aloft, the modernized satellite would focus on warning the Earth about incoming solar winds. That's just one of the satellite's original missions, but the November 2014 launch target is relatively realistic -- and we'll need it when the satellite currently fulfilling the role is overdue for a replacement.

Although the app includes full coastal water charts for the entire Eastern seaboard of the US, the area encompassing the sanctuary is of particular interest as there are right whale listening buoys scattered hither and yon. Thanks to those buoys, the app can detect the location of right whales and generate a voluntary speed-reduction alert, hopefully reducing the number of ship/whale collisions. The screenshot below shows a live alert from today -- note that the time is listed in MDT as that is the time zone in which the screenshot was taken.

The app may also be of interest to whale-watchers, particularly in the Massachusetts Bay area.

If you've had your fill of that Black Marble animation from last week, how's about a more interactive jaunt around the globe? Google has now joined hands with NASA and NOAA to use stunning imagery of an illuminated, cloud-free Earth captured by the Suomi NPP satellite and put a map of the sleeping world right under your fingertips. The data was collected over 312 passes by the satellite using a new ultra high-sensitivity sensor dubbed the "day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite", and then mapped over existing "Blue Marble" pictures. If you think a nocturnal orbit around our home planet beats having a gander at faraway nebulas, but you can't quite afford a boarding pass, then a jump to the source link is most definitely in order.

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

While a February 3rd memo from NOAA Chief Information Officer and Director for High Performance Computing and Communications Joseph Klimavicz noted that support for BlackBerrys will continue until May 12, 2012, it does not say when the government organization will actually start providing workers with the new Apple devices.

According to the memo from Klimavicz, NOAA will now support employees with iPhone 4 and newer smartphones running iOS 5 or later, as well as iPad 2 or newer tablets running iOS 5 or later.

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applebeleagueredblackberryipadiphoneNOAAThu, 09 Feb 2012 13:00:00 -050016|20168242http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/08/oregon-scientific-ces-2012-weather-monitor-qi-charger-action-cam/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
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As usual, the folks at Oregon Scientific are rolling out a bundle of products at CES. When the weather gets bad, the company's new Portable Emergency Alert Radio can come to your rescue to keep you updated as the world ends (it is 2012, after all) for $79. It can tune into AM/FM radio, NOAA weather radio, and Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) location-based alerts, plus it can be charged via its solar panel or hand crank -- and a USB port's on board to keep all your other devices in the juice, too.

There's the ATCMini action video camera that joins the company's other, action cam offerings. The ATCMini weighs a scant 2.3 ounces and records 720p video at 30fps, shoot 1.3 megapixel stills and is waterproof up to 65 feet (20m). It stores all your pics and vids on a MicroSD card, and you can show off your extreme exploits on the big screen via a TV-out jack. The action cam comes with a helmet mount, but there are handlebar, surfboard, and skateboard mounts sold separately as well. PR and a gallery of either awaits you below, and stay tuned for our hands-on impressions later today.

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action cameraActionCameraatcminicesces 2012Ces2012emergency radioEmergencyRadionoaanoaa radiosNoaaRadiosoregon scientificOregonScientificportable emergency alert radioPortableEmergencyAlertRadioqiremote weather access platformRemoteWeatherAccessPlatformweather radioWeatherRadiowireless chargerwireless chargingWirelessChargerWirelessChargingSun, 08 Jan 2012 19:00:00 -050021|20143194http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/researchers-propose-using-undersea-internet-cables-to-detect-tsu/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/researchers-propose-using-undersea-internet-cables-to-detect-tsu/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/researchers-propose-using-undersea-internet-cables-to-detect-tsu/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsWe've heard of a few inventive ideas for detecting tsunamis, and it looks like a group of researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (or NOAA) have now come up with another: put all those undersea internet cables to a second use. While they haven't moved beyond computer models just yet, the group has apparently found that voltmeters attached to the end of an undersea cable are able to detect the small electric field stirred up by tsunamis, which measure around 500 millivolts. As New Scientist reports, however, the idea does have some considerable limitations, including that it wouldn't be able to pinpoint the exact location or direction of a tsunami, and that any such system would first need to filter out noise caused by other natural events and even the cable itself. Other researchers also caution that it's just as important to develop a system to quickly pass on a warning to potentially affected areas once a tsunami has been detected.

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noaatsunamiunderseaundersea cableundersea cablesundersea internet cableundersea internet cablesUnderseaCableUnderseaCablesUnderseaInternetCableUnderseaInternetCablesWed, 27 Jan 2010 11:02:00 -050021|19332607http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/17/casa-network-aims-to-identify-tornadoes-more-quickly/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/17/casa-network-aims-to-identify-tornadoes-more-quickly/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/17/casa-network-aims-to-identify-tornadoes-more-quickly/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsThe recent tornado tragedy in Iowa underscores the necessity to replace our aging NEXRAD detection system, and thankfully, a team of scientists from various universities are already working to find a suitable replacement. The Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) satellite network would theoretically be installed on existing infrastructure, and it would purportedly scan areas more quickly and target the bottom of storms -- something the current system falters at. The so-called "gap filling radars" could be used to scrutinize the regions where NEXRAD radars can't see, and better still, it will likely be able to more accurately predict the storm path in order to more effectively alert those who may be in harm's way. On the downside, said network isn't expected to be implemented and ready for use until 2013, so we wouldn't go converting that basement into a home theater just yet.

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CASAdangerousNOAAradarresearchsafetysatellitestormTornadouniversityweatherTue, 17 Jun 2008 04:32:00 -040021|1227391http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/09/video-sunny-the-weather-bot-defies-explanation/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
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He's winking at us, he loves everyone, and he talks out of his crotch. Say hello to Sunny, NOAA's taxpayer-funded weather bot. Get a load of that Engadget rap!

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CESengadget videoEngadgetVideofeaturesnoaasunny the robotSunnyTheRobotWed, 09 Jan 2008 15:35:00 -050021|1082597http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/10/noaa-expands-in-second-life/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Massively&ncid=rss_semi
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has expanded it's presence in Second Life. Sixteen months ago they opened Meteroa and they have just added a second sim called Okeanos which focuses more explicitly on the oceans than the atmosphere that you find in Meteroa.

In the new sim you will find a submarine journey through underwater environments, treating oil spills, information about harmful algal blooms and how NOAA is trying to predict them, and much, much more. As those of us used to NOAA in Second Life might expect it is beautiful, and has quite a lot of activities associated with it. Unlike Meteroa it uses a guide HUD which can take up quite a bit of your screen and which I found to have a few technical problems too, but these will, doubtless, be fixed in the next few days and even with them it is well worth a visit.

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Marine-BiologyMeteroaNOAAOcean-SurveyOil-SpillOkeanosSecond-Lifesecond-life-placesMon, 10 Dec 2007 11:00:00 -0500319|1058931http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/13/noaa-to-send-unmanned-aircraft-into-hurricane/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/13/noaa-to-send-unmanned-aircraft-into-hurricane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/13/noaa-to-send-unmanned-aircraft-into-hurricane/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsThe US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is planning on sending tiny, unmanned aircraft on a fearless mission straight into a hurricane -- if they get one to test it in, that is. The $50,000 aircraft, called aerosondes, is designed to collect measurements too dangerous to be done with NOAA's hurricane hunter planes, which NOAA hopes will increase their ability to predict changes in hurricane intensity. The aircraft is launched from atop a speeding pickup truck and can fly for up to 18 hours at a time at altitudes up to 600 meters. The only problem is that their primo spot for hurricane watchin', Key West, Florida, has so far turned up nothin' but nice weather -- good for the residents, but bad for our hurricane-happy scientists. That's made even worse by the fact that their funding for the project is currently set to expire at the end of the month, though they're hoping to get that extended to October if the good/bad weather continues.